How to bridge the knowing-doing gap

Has Your Business’s Growth Hit a Wall? Here’s How to Bridge the Knowing-Doing Gap 

You know that your business has a compelling proposition. But if growth feels like it’s stalled, it’s likely not a lack of knowledge that’s holding you back - it’s a lack of action. This is what we call the knowing-doing gap: the space between what businesses know and what they actually do. 

At Actus, we’ve seen first hand how this gap can easily become one of the biggest barriers to progress - regardless of your industry or the size of your business. 

Having worked closely with over 120 businesses since 2013, guiding them through insight to implementation, we’ve identified five common patterns that regularly stand in the way of growth. 

Five Barriers That Get in the Way of Action

Most of these barriers stem from good intentions, appearing reasonable at first. But when they’re taken to excess, they can quietly hold teams back…

1. Fear of Mistakes 

It’s natural to be cautious in business, there’s often a lot at stake. But perfectionism can easily stand in the way of innovation and measured risk-taking. As a general rule, ‘done’ is often better than ‘perfect’. 

2. Talking, Not Acting

Strong and consistent communication among teams matters. But many businesses accidentally emphasise discussions over decision-making. The result is a lot of meetings without any real sense of direction. 

3. Siloed Teams 

In the post-Covid world, businesses (including SMEs) are at an even greater risk of siloed and misaligned teams - due to flexible working policies. Flexible working can present enormous opportunities, but it does mean thinking differently about effective collaboration. 

4. Lengthy Sign-Off Chains

A good approval chain prioritises accuracy and quality, but many businesses simply generate needless bureaucracy that grinds progress to a halt. 

5. Emphasising Static Conservatism

Relying on ‘what worked before' prevents experimentation and assumes conditions will remain the same - in fast moving markets, this complacency can harm your business’s competitiveness. 

How to Start Closing the Gap 

Bridging the knowing-doing gap doesn’t require a full business overhaul. What it does take is a mindset shift - choosing to lead with action in order to capture momentum, and expressing a willingness to take informed risks. 

Build a Bias for Action

Building a bias for action means fostering a working culture that’s proactive, innovative, and measurable. It’s about making decisions that align with strategic priorities. Think, ‘What comes next?’  You can read more about this in our blog here.

Align Metrics with Goals

A business is only as good as its data, but measuring the wrong metrics is time-consuming and can harm effective prioritisation. A solid approach to metrics is using them to inform action, as opposed to simply reflecting it. 

Encourage Collaboration

Breaking down silos and opening up cross-departmental teamwork is absolutely key in avoiding duplication and generating shared wins throughout the business. 

Get Used to Fast Failures

At Actus, we’re unashamedly pro fast failure. Innovation has always required iteration. Safe-to-fail experiments concerning processes, products, and services can provide quick and valuable insights and at little cost. 

Celebrate Initiative

Your working culture should recognise and reward employees who demonstrate a proactive approach and initiative. Their habits set the standard for the rest of their teams. 

Feeling Stuck? Let’s Recapture Your Momentum 

The knowing-doing gap can feel overwhelming. It presents key challenges for even the most experienced leaders in business. But hesitation at a critical growth juncture can widen the gap further, paralysing businesses and grinding growth to halt. The solution isn’t necessarily a completely new approach or restructure, it’s often a question of simply choosing to act. 

That starting point might simply be testing a new process to eliminate waste and drive a specific efficiency. Alternatively, it might be removing a needless stage in a sign-off process or making a regular, lengthy meeting shorter and tighter. 

A bias for action, when implemented effectively, is scalable. It can recapture momentum within a department and throughout an entire business. It’s about refusing to wait for perfect conditions and to settle for what’s simply worked before - prioritising momentum, growth, and profitability over familiar ground. 

Book Your Free Momentum Session 

Businesses thrive when ambition meets clarity and strategy becomes action. At Actus, we’ve helped over 120 businesses close the knowing-doing gap - positioning them for long-term growth and profitability. 

By pioneering a collaborative approach to consultation, we provide proven strategies encompassing positioning, new business, people, finance, and sustainability. We actively guide you to success, rather than simply handing you a blueprint. 

If you’re ready to recapture your momentum, book a free Momentum Session so that we can start crafting your new strategy - together.